Renting Studios, Equipment, Instruments, and Engineers

Most of what we cover here at AudioMelody caters to the home musician – where you can recreate and record that tune you have in your head often using little more that a laptop, a keyboard, and a microphone, or even just a tablet! But once you have put that first demo recording together, if you are in a band you will want to take that song to the next stage and record it in a studio – and that means engineers and instrument rental.

Recording it in a studio has various advantages over a home recording – the acoustics are better for a start. But you’ll also have the option of equipment and instrument rental, playing with that vintage synth you recreated on your laptop for real may suddenly become a reality. And you’ll also have the option of using a studio engineer.

Studios will generally offer the rental of a drum kit, with some bundling it into the base price, but drummers should bring their own cymbals and possibly their own snare if they are looking for a particular sound. Similarly, studios will have various amps and guitars that you can rent, but if you are after a particular sound then make sure these are what you are used to or even bring your own. But do remember that being at the studio may give you an opportunity to try out and rent instruments that you had only dreamed of or used in software form previously. Don’t spend too much time experimenting as you will be charged by the hour – but now is the time to rent that vintage Nord organ or Roland 808 drum machine.

You may think that you have honed your production skills having read all the tutorials we offer here as well as the others all over the web, and you may have been recording yourself and your band for a few years – but a fresh pair of ears from an outsider is always useful. Moreover, they will be used to all the equipment in the studio having used it on a daily basis, and they will know how to get the best out of it. These skills will let them work better and faster than you would alone and so may well end up saving you money in the end as you will not need the studio for so long.

Do make sure, however, that the engineer you pick has a history of working with bands like yours and sounds similar to yours. Just like there are bands and artists that make every style of music imaginable, there are studio engineers that do the same. Make sure you check out their past work before making your decision.